General Arts and Christianity

The State of the Arts: From Bezalel to Mapplethorpe by Gene Edward Veith (Crossway, 1991)

An excellent groundwork for Christian artists. Veith starts in Part One: Comprehending the Arts, with a basic description of the nature of art and how Christians have abdicated their involvement in the arts. Part Two: The Biblical Foundations, is an excellent exegetical study of the arts in Scripture, focusing primarily on the first heralded artist in the Bible, Bezalel. This section provides a Scriptural foundation for the Christian to approach creativity. In Part Three: Christianity and the Arts, he applies that foundation to the Contemporary Christian artists and how the Church has dealt with the arts versus how it should deal with the arts. Strong biblical foundation. – BG

The Liberated Imagination: Thinking Christianly About the Arts by Leland Ryken (Harold Shaw, 1989)

This is an excellent and balanced Biblical examination and justification of art. Ryken starts with explaining the nature and purpose of the arts within Scripture. He then explores creativity, beauty and recreation, and the goodness of imagination, some topics woefully lacking in the church today. He discusses the nature of art and truth and provides a proper biblical understanding of “Christian art.” This is an excellent book for those who might be struggling seeing the value of art or want a stronger biblical foundation of it in their Christian worldview. But it also gives excellent and wise guidelines for discerning between good uses and bad abuses of art. - BG